Coffee
by wisegirl9876
Summary: 'He...he was a stalker',she thought 'Kelp head was a stupid, dangerous, sneaky, good looking kidnapper who liked to sleep in his victim's bed before murdering them'.OR The one where Annabeth hates coffee but ends up working in a coffee shop and one evening Percy decides he wants a Vanilla cafe latte. Percabeth! Cover art by Viria.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **A vanilla café latte please.**

Annabeth Chase wasn't particularly fond of coffee. They _did_ kill brain cells and cause cancer after all. So if anyone had told her that her dream to obtain an architecture degree like her mother would have resulted in her moving miles away from sunny Cali to crowded New York and working as a barista in a dingy coffee house with miserable wages, she might have dropped the idea altogether and attend medical school like her father and her stuck up step mom had told her to.

"One pumpkin latte!"

" _Annie_ , a pumpkin latte please."

"On it, Miranda!" Annabeth forced out through clenched teeth as she grabbed another disposable cup from the column and started to brew the damn drink. The bell jingled again as another set of customers wrapped up in their scarves entered the already crowded coffee shop. Annabeth wiped out her sharpie and looked around at the masses of people in the dim light. "Linton?" a few seconds passed.

No one answered. The people around were glaring at her already for the wasted time. She huffed and went back to brewing the next set of order.

 _Gods she hated this job._

Working in a coffee shop may not seem like the most difficult job on the planet. After all pouring cups of coffee or cleaning tables weren't jobs that demanded a whole lot of energy or time. And it wasn't. But the other part, the _very_ hard part, was dealing with the bunch of ill-mannered idiots who seemed to have made it their life's goal to drink five cups of coffee every morning and make her life miserable.

 _And_ she had a very important test to take tomorrow. She was positive she was going to flunk it and was desperate for her shift to end so she could get back to the flat she shared with her best friend Thalia Grace and drown in her architecture texts all the while moaning of how pathetic her grade would be (she had a weird feeling Thalia would empty the milk carton onto her head if she did though, like the last time, so she made a mental note to minimize the voicing of her depressing thoughts.)

And on top of the mess was the fact that the job didn't pay that well. Sure she was able to pay her share of the rent and purchase everyday essentials but by the end she was left with nothing but a few bucks. She was slowly but painfully realizing her attempt at being independent wasn't turning out the way she had planned. Storming out on her dad and refusing to take the money he regularly put in her account now seemed a tad bit foolish. Perhaps she _could_ take a few dollars…..no. Her pride would never allow it.

The afternoon sky faded as Annabeth continued to huff and puff with the various levers and switches on the coffee machine. It was supposed to make the work easier but Annabeth always got confused and usually ended up taking twice the amount of time than required. And she wasn't particularly proud of the fact.

As the last person exited the shop she checked her watch. Yes! Five minutes and her shift ended. Katie was on the night shift today. She could now complete her revision and do a small extra research just to be on the safe side. As her watched beeped six, Annabeth grinned and started to take off her despicable floral apron when-

"A vanilla café latte please."

Her head shot up to the man standing at the counter. His grey hoodie had come down to reveal a mop of messy dark hair. A set of sea green eyes stared at her coolly from under nonchalant eyebrows. His features were handsome, _very_ handsome, almost like a timeless Greek sculpture of a young god. He had taken off his jacket to reveal broad shoulders and a long lean body. Perhaps an athlete or a swimmer?

"Actually, my shifts just ended." Annabeth muttered helplessly, half torn to get back home and the other half to help the interesting looking guy. She looked around for Katie and came face to face with her slightly lunatic manager.

"Now, now Annabeth" sang Mr. Johnson through a wide smile that looked a tad bit on the crazy side.

"Please do get the polite young gentleman his drink."

'The polite young gentleman' was currently smirking at her leaning on the counter. Her face set its usual scowl as all thoughts of helping this guy on her own free will flew away. She blew the few strands of blond hair that had come out from her stupid green cap out of her face and grabbed the last cup from her side and started to brew the idiot's drink.

He tapped his fingers on the counter as he waited for his drink and Annabeth's eyes unconsciously followed the pattern of tattoos that ran from his knuckles and disappeared into his sleeve. He coughed at her wandering eyes and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her guilty gaze at which she snorted, turned around to the brewer and ceased to look at the obnoxious guy standing behind her.

"Name?" she asked with an air of boredom. She was exhausted after several hours of work and positively _filthy_ with different coffee stains adorning her green floral apron. Seriously _why_ the hell did they have such a crapy uniform? Surely, someone would have suggested a better solu-

"Kelp head"

"Sorry, what?" she stared up at him, convinced she had heard wrong. The work time along with her classes were certainly eating up her senses. A few more days and she might just end up in the loony bin.

"The name" the guy repeated, pointing to the cup as if she were an imbecile "Kelp head. It's spelled K-E-L-"

"I know how it's spelled!" she snapped irritated. She knew her shift had ended and Thalia would be probably waiting for. She knew it was time for her to get back and start her studies. She knew the most practical thing to do was write down the silly name for mister Kelp Head and rush back home. She _knew_ it and yet-

"You're name is Kelp head?" she shot out unbelievingly. She knew a lot about bad parents. Her own friend Thalia had been ditched in a pine forest by her alcoholic mother. Nico's dad made him sleep in their basement when he was five to 'build character'. Whatever, _that_ guy was a nut. But naming your own son after a marine plant species was beyond appalling.

"It's a nickname." He said and smirked at her coloring cheeks. He continued to gaze at her through those intense green eyes. She got a whiff of salty fragrance as if Kelp Head had brought the entire ocean along with him. It was…. _refreshing_.

Somehow the idea of a nickname had never entered her fuzzy brain. She was a valedictorian and skipped two grades and this guy made her look like a fool with a few words. She mentally thought of various instruments with which she could torture the loser in front of her and picked up her sharpie when he interrupted her _again._

"So Wise girl, what did you say your name was again?" he asked _too_ nonchalant, while inspecting his finger nails (which she noticed were long and elegant).

"I never did tell you my name" she straightened up and stared at him through narrowed eyes.

"And what do you mean by 'Wisegirl'?"

He shrugged and gave her a genuine smile that brightened up his whole face and nearly took the breath out of her with its utter adorability. She quickly shook of her wayward thoughts and muttered darkly "You deserve a worse nickname."

He stared at her amused "Well then, why don't you give me one, _Wisegirl_?"

She knew she was already late. It was half past six, she had already memorized the chapter for the exam and another five minutes less in revision wouldn't affect her grade _that_ much. And Thalia must have already dosed off. So there was really no rush to get back now and since Katie seemed to be lying dead somewhere under a rock Annabeth decided it wouldn't be bad to amuse herself with this utter dick. Maybe, just maybe, she thought, she could draw out another one of those breathtaking smiles from him.

"Hmmm….let me think" she mused and taped the pen on her chin "you're eyes reminds of the sea and it's obvious you don't possess a brain under that unruly mop of hair of yours…so.. _how_ about seaweed brain!"

And in her excitement at having found the perfect name with the right amount of insult and pen in one hand she scribbled down "seaweed brain' on his order without actually processing what she was doing. When she _did_ realize what she had done she looked up at the guy who was now staring at her, his face completely expressionless. She could feel her cheeks getting hot and it seemed to be spreading to her neck and ears.

"Sorry" she stuttered "I can change it or…or make you a new one. It'll only take a few minutes!"

She stared at him miserably when he burst out laughing. It was a nice sound, almost musical. The cringles around his eyes deepened and his sea green orbs reminded her of the ocean on a calm day with green waves rocking and splashing and the salty air on the beach and-

"It's fine, Wisegirl" he smiled at her brightly, almost bashfully "it will be our little thing"

He winked at her and took the cup from her frozen hand. He checked his watch and gave her a small wave before heading towards the door where he bumped into a heavily wrapped up Katie Gardener as she rushed through to a slightly dazed looking Annabeth who was staring dreamily at the jingling bell and the closing door.

"I am not late, am I?" the girl inquired as she took off her scarf and slipped into her own green apron. "Only I had a family emergency."

 _Yeah right, messing around with Travis Stoll is definitely a family emergency._

But Annabeth couldn't bring herself to be annoyed at her colleague. Any other day and she would have chewed off Katie's pretty head and kicked Travis Stoll in the ass for making her work late but today…well today seemed to be an exemption. Right now her heart felt light and her mind dazed as a whirlwind of feelings and electricity passed through her body. Her hand still tingled where Seaweed brain took his drink.

"No Katie" she breathed out heavily "you have the absolute _perfect_ timing"

As she tugged on her coat and fixed her scarf she realized she didn't know his real name. The thought made her sad and then angry. This was just some random guy who liked coffee! He wasn't _supposed_ to have such an effect upon her. He _definitely_ was not supposed to make her lose track of time and delay her studies for tomorrow's test. Because, after all, no one came between Annabeth Chase and her studies. No matter how cute they were or how gorgeous their eyes looked or how good they smelled or-

RIGHT. No one

As she trudged through the snow her mind was unusually buzzing with questions. Seemingly irrelevant questions. She spotted a trail of footsteps heading to the park and wondered if it was _his_. And then she decided she _had_ gone mad because countless number of people had walked through this area and the possibility of it being his was just as much it wasn't.

 _Seaweed brain_

She wondered if he would come back again for another vanilla café latte or perhaps this would be the last time she ever saw the green eyed stranger and he would disappear from her thoughts like the endless amount of instructions on that stupid ancient coffee machine.

She wasn't that sure of the last part though.

 _ **Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**_

 **And that's it folks! This was some random idea I had in my mind and I still have no idea where it's going. Hope you guys liked it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Annabeth's phone beeped as she struggled to push the key into the door. Her arms were laden with research papers and books, courtesy of a quick detour to the library on the way back home. She pulled out her phone and sighed as she lost her grip on one of the books and the entire pile fell down with an audible thud. Too tired to pick them up immediately she swiped her password and stared at the new text in her inbox.

 _Classes canceled tomorrow. You up for lunch?-Piper_

Annabeth didn't bother to reply. Not that Piper needed one anyway. She would probably just show up on her door tomorrow at noon and drag her off to one of the latest restaurants that had caught her fancy. Annabeth was sadly helpless when it came to arguments with Piper, especially since Thalia usually ditched her and laughed from the sidelines.

Annabeth stretched her tired limbs, satisfied when she heard the strong _pop_ in her right shoulder, and bent down to pick up her fallen materials when the key fell of the lock. Muttering darkly she contemplated on kicking open the bloody door (it was so old, it was practically useless) when it creaked open a bit.

Thalia must be inside. Annabeth gathered her books and pushed the door further with the sole of her shoes. The flat was dark, the setting sun sending in rays of orange and red through the balcony door and casting shadows on the wall. She set down her stuff on the table and, assuming Thalia was shut up in her room and subjecting herself to the torture she called music, made her way into her own room to take a shower and quite possibly bin her stupid apron.

She switched on the lights and had one of the strings of her uniform untied when she noticed a figure in her bed. Suddenly alert she started to make her way around the bed, promising herself if it was Leo with his colorful water balloons again she would kick in the _bifurcum_ and make him ingest the complicated solutions she whipped up in her spare time when her manager wasn't looking by adding random ingredients and artificial colors that she thought would blend together well.

It wasn't Leo. Leo didn't have soft silky hair the shade of midnight. Leo didn't have a toned, lean and muscled torso. Leo didn't have skin so smooth and tanned and gorgeous. No. Leo didn't have any of the above features because the guy on her bed _wasn't_ Leo. It was...it was-

"Kelp head." she breathed out.

His eyes flew open and sea green orbs stares back at her. A dozen emotions seemed to pass through his eyes; confusion, realization, happiness, suspicion, confusion again. Her mind was turning hundred miles an hour. Oh my god. He was a robber, a…a fucking _stalker_. Kelp head was a stupid, dangerous, sneaky, good looking stalker who liked to sleep in his victim's beds before murdering them.

Before he could sit up and advance to the next step of his sinister, poorly- thought out plan, her adrenaline filled body grabbed onto the nearest hard object she could find; her round red alarm clock (which was a pain in the ass in mornings), and smacked him right in the head with it.

 **000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

 **I know this is a very small chapter but I felt like I just had to get it out there.**

 **The reviews were amazing, guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Annabeth had worn a hole on the kitchen carpet. Thalia seemed to have gotten mobbed and beat to death in one of the many shady streets she liked to hang out and her stupid phone was dead. She had briefly considered asking her only two neighbors for help but since one of them was on a trip to Italy and the other constituted of an old wanker who smelled of moth balls and had a habit of leering down her top, she decided to face the situation by herself.

The opening of the front door jarred her from her thoughts. She watched dumbfounded as Thalia Grace entered, her face drowning in her thick woolen scarf, two bags of over spilling groceries in her arms.

Thalia _never_ bought groceries. Or bright red bottles of cokes (she claimed they were for sissies), which now peeked out through the top of one of the brown bags along with a pack of…what was that?... _Oreo_?

Annabeth Chase was definitely dreaming.

"Thalia…what…"Annabeth struggled to form words as the dark haired girl deposited the bags on the kitchen counter and proceeded to pluck an apple from the fruit bowl and take a large bite.

"Close your mouth Annie! You'll catch flies." Thalia teased but her cheerful expression quickly dissolved when she took in the haggard state of her best friend. "Annabeth? What's wrong?"

Jerked back to reality Annabeth remembered exactly why she had been so desperate for her room- mate to be back. She snatched Thalia's phone and struggled to type in her password ('Greenday1201xx'…. _boring_ ).

"Thalia, quick! We have to call the cops…my phones dead and you were god alone knows where..and …"Annabeth's nervous rambling was cut short when a hand snatched the mobile away from her restless fingers.

"Annabeth, calm down. Will you please tell me what-"

But Annabeth had already snagged the phone back and had begun to dial 911 when Thalia managed to knock the phone out of her hand where it fell to the floor with an audible _crack._ What followed was a very awkward silence where Thalia stared at her while she tried her best to not run to the nearest pay phone and hand over that thieving bastard to the cops.

"um, you're phones seemed to be broken…"

Thalia stared at her like if she wasn't sure if _Annabeth_ was the one who had hit her head and broke something in there.

"Annabeth. I need you to answer me honestly. Can you do that?"

"uhh..yeah,sure."

"Are you or are you not…"Thalia's electrifying gaze bore into Annabeth's terrified grey ones. She felt fear prickle her heart at the utter seriousness in Thalia's eyes. She wasn't sure she could handle whatever was coming next "...on drugs?"

Wait, what?

Thalia just laughed at Annabeth's stricken expression as she started to unload the grocery bags. Annabeth spotted at least five packs of Oreo and two rolls of blue food coloring.

"Anyway, jokes aside, where's Percy? Did you meet him?" Thalia's words slapped Annabeth in the face.

"P-Percy?"

"Yeah, my cousin. You know him, right? He's the one obsessed with the beach."Thalia rolled her eyes at that. "Anyway he left to get coffee before I went out. Isn't he back yet?"

Shit.

"Uhh, Thalia. About your cousin….there's something you may want to see."

**Ten seconds later**

"This is…. interesting." Thalia finally drew out.

Annabeth nervously twisted the edge of her floral apron. Damn. Hadn't she gotten rid of this thing already? Thalia's expression hadn't changed in the last thirty seconds. Her lips were in a tight line and her eyes glued to her blond roommate's bed.

Percy was there, an old red and green stripped Christmas sock stuffed in his mouth. His hands and legs were bound clumsily but firmly in a layer of grey sheets. His sea green eyes stared back at the two girls with barely suppressed anger.

Suddenly Thalia burst out laughing. Annabeth gaped at her in horror then back at Seaweed brain-sorry _Percy_ \- whose eyes had narrowed into slits as he watched his cousin cough up a lung from her all her laughing-at _his_ expense.

"I'm _so_ sorry" Annabeth rambled. After one murderous glare at Thalia, who was digging up her phone from her jeans, Annabeth moved to the side of her supposed thief cum kidnapper and pulled out her sock from his mouth-well _Luke's_ sock, so there wasn't really much loss. "I swear I had no idea who you were."

But Percy wasn't paying her much attention. After giving her a small, strained smile and a polite nod he turned towards Thalia, who seemed to have been taking photos on her mobile the whole time.

"What the hell, Thalia! This wasn't funny" Percy growled. His sea green eyes were dark and smoldering. Annabeth felt something stir in her abdomen.

"Wait, hold on. You don't think _I_ did this, do you?" Thalia exclaimed in mock indigence. "Would I really tie up my poor, little, turtle obsessed cousin to a bedpost?

"After bashing my skull in with a fucking alarm clock? Yeah." Percy held up the slightly dented material as proof as he touched a spot on his forehead and winced at the swelling.

"Oh my gods. You _hit_ him?" Thalia turned to her in pure awe. Annabeth wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

" _You_ hit me?" Percy asked in disbelief. He looked so hurt it was kind of funny, especially when his lower lip stuck out a bit _. Don't you dare laugh_ _Annabeth_ she thought _the guy just got molested and tied to a bed. He has every reason to be upset._

"Yes, I did." she confessed "I had no idea you were Thalia's cousin. I figured you were a robber or something."

"A robber who doesn't steal anything but sleeps on the owner's bed? Yeah, I don't think you know what a robber is." Percy muttered as he limped to the kitchen. He seemed to have sprained his ankle. Annabeth vaguely remembered slamming his leg against the wall while tying him up in his unconscious state and struggled to not look guilty.

"But seriously cuz, I can't believe you'd think I'd be the one to play such a harmless joke." Thalia said as Annabeth muttered how it _wasn't_ a joke "My pranks are a little bit more original."

"Whatever, Pinecone face."Percy muttered as he carefully placed an ice bag on his forehead. "As I recall the last time I saw you, you were tied to chair and suspended a hundred feet down your father's office block."

"What- _how_?" Annabeth gasped, half sorry for her friends state and half amused.

"Jason took a bit of convincing." Percy admitted. "But at the end we just slipped her a few sleeping pills and tied her to the chair. The suspending part was a bit tricky but we had help from the construction crew, who weren't Green Day fans and didn't like the weekly sing alongs someone did behind their equipments." He looked pointedly at Thalia who snorted and muttered 'losers' under her breath.

"We taped the whole thing and put in on YouTube." Percy told her smugly. Annabeth made a mental note to check the video out.

"Whatever. I'm starving."Thalia announced, a poor way to change the topic, Annabeth thought but Percy sat up at the mention of food.

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth started to leaf through the various takeout leaflets "We have Mexican, Chinese… how about sea-food?"

"Great, now you've unleashed the beast." Thalia muttered as Percy rounded on her with a murderous look in his eyes.

"Annabeth." He said ,his voice deceptively calm. "Let me tell you something about sea-food."

What followed was an hour of fish slogans and stuff like how all fish were our brothers, the sacred duty of humanity to protect the ocean and marine life and how people who ate sea-food were sinners and had to be bought back to the right path.

They ended up ordering pizza that night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Coffee**

 **Chapter** **4**

Percy Jackson was a contradiction. He went against everything Annabeth ever valued in a person. Granted she barely knew him, it being just a week after their rather unpleasant introduction. But still, anyone who jumped up at the mention of a _Finding Nemo_ movie, had weird obsession with food that shouldn't no _wasn't_ normal and left mugs unwashed was automatically knocked down on her list of respected people.

 _Especially_ the unwashed mug part.

She was curled up in a cocoon of blankets now, on the faded grey couch in the living room, her architecture text in her hands, reading the same sentence twice and skipping the next one and blinking wearily as the words started to swim before her eyes. She reached for the mug of ginger tea on the nearby table and changed her mind halfway to grab a tissue as she felt another sneeze tingling down her nose.

ACHOOO! The crumpled up tissue joined it's brethren on the floor.

She was sick. _Very_ sick. The whole chicken soup and boxes of tissue sick. Except she had almost run out of tissues and there was no one around to fix her soup. She supposed it _was_ her fault. After all _she_ was the one who had stubbornly pushed Thalia into going on the blind date, announcing she was not a little child, she could take care of herself, she was a strong young independent woman who read the _Financial Times_ and had attended dance lessons for six years-

Did she mention she was sick?

Leo predictably had got himself arrested around three hours ago for vandalizing the public library this afternoon. He claimed he had no idea what they were talking about, even tried pretending he was a clueless tourist (me no speech English, officer!) but the spray cans in his backpack told another story.

Jason and Piper were on a date and she had absolutely refused to have them come over and take care of her. Round two of the young independent woman and dance lessons had issued and her friends had all agreed to leave her alone and check up on her via calls.

Percy barely knew her and probably had no idea of her condition as he had left last night to his mum's place. He was going to attend the launch of her second novel tonight. It must have begun around twenty minutes ago.

So yes, it _was_ her fault, she thought miserably as she took a sip of tea and made a face at the ice coldness that met her tongue.

She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew she was startled awake by the opening of the front door.

She watched silently as a snow covered Percy entered, shrugged off his jacket and closed the door softly behind him. _He probably thinks I'm asleep_ she mused as he tip toed gently across the hall and placed his carrier bag on the counter. The blankets did a good job of hiding her slight frame.

He was pulling out boxes from the bag, careful to make the least noise as humanly possible (and failing adorably) and she was seriously contemplating the idea of yelling _boo!_ when he turned around and spotted her among the masses of cushions and blankets.

Instead of being embarrassed at his useless display of caution he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively "See something you like, Chase?"

"In your dreams, Jackson!" She huffed and prayed to every god she could think of that she wasn't blushing as much as she felt. _Please let him think it's the cold. Please._ _ **Please**_ _._

"Wait, _what_ are you doing here, Percy?" she demanded suddenly as she struggled to sit up and check the time. "You're mother's book launch doesn't end in almost two hours."

He shrugged "It's no big deal. I was there for the whole opening speech and stuff. Now it's just autographing and the Q&A session. Besides" he turned around pretending to be busy unpacking as the back of his neck turned red "Thalia mentioned you were sick. Thought I'd check up on you."

Shit. Butterflies. In the stomach. _Hard_.

She felt the dance lessons and young woman speech wilt in her throat. She didn't want him to leave.

"Oh." she said casually. At least she hoped it sounded casual instead of the one octave high it actually came out as. Damn it.

"Yeah, well" he said, walking towards her with a red Tupperware in one hand and a box of tissues in the other, which he proceeded to arrange on the small table in front of her, barely managing to not knock the mug of tea down in the process. " I was there for the first one. Her first novel, I mean. It was about three years ago and me and Paul sat through the entire thing."

I nodded meekly, watching him struggle with the lid of the Tupperware. A delicious smell filled the room as he pried open the lid and set it down beside the box of tissues, and thrusted the opened container at me, a proud look taking over his features.

"From my mother." He said, as I sat up straighter and stared at the blue cookies inside. "It's one of her special recipes. She thought you might enjoy it."

I admit, my eyes welled up a bit at the kindness of that faceless woman. She probably had no idea who I was. My earlier doubts against the abnormality of the color rose up in me but it was rude not to accept. Besides that bewitching smell was climbing up my nose and filling my lungs and making me light headed.

The first bite was heaven. And the second a level above that. I didn't speak, merely proceeded to inhale my way through the stack of rich blue chocolaty goodness. When I finally emerged, an astounding six cookies in my belly, Percy was watching me with a soft, amused expression.

"That was good." I croak, taking in huge gulps of air. "Very good."

He nodded and took the container from my hands and when the table proved too crowded balanced it on his lap, a small smirk on his face. I had a ridiculous urge to snatch the cookies back, hold it to my chest and yell 'mine!'.

 _Come on Annabeth, let's act like a normal person now, shall we?_

"Do you…does your mom always make them?" I ask, a bit jealous.

His eyes lit up. She did. It was apparently a regular in the Jackson household. She made it for breakfast, for dinner, when he was sick, when someone visited, when she was bored and on a lot of other everyday occasions that led me to the conclusion that Percy Jackson probably had diabetes.

I smiled contentedly, his rant slowly lulling me to a warm, sleepy haze, when something shiny and blue peeking out from under the box of tissues caught my eye.

"What's that?" I murmur, pointing.

He follows my gaze, smiles sheepishly and pulls out the mystery object. My eyes take a minute to take in the blue background and the orange blob.

" _Finding Nemo_?" I ask, bewildered.

" _Finding Nemo_." he agrees, one hand at the back of his neck "I thought you might want to see it. If you were bored or something." His eyes land on my architecture book, which was now open to a page titled ball bearing joints and quickly looks away.

"I've never watched it before."I say truthfully and blush when his mouth falls open.

"You've _never_ watched it before?" he says, incredulous, his eyebrows scrunched together making him impossibly cute. At my embarrassed nod, he takes a long breath, sits up straighter and announces "Well that's not right. We are going to watch it _right_ now and you'll realize the pure genius that you've been missing all these years!"

He walks into the kitchen and after a few minutes of silence returns back with two cups of steaming hot chocolate, marshmallows blobbing merrily on top. He sets them on the small table, knocking the box of tissues down to make space , deciding that they weren't that important since my cold had magically vanished after munching on his mom's cookies . _Or_ , as I realized, _ever since his arrival_.

"What movies did you see as a kid?"He inquires pleasantly as he put the DVD in.

I was _not_ going to admit that architectural documentaries were my favorite since seven years old or it was the discovery channel before that. _No way in hell_. So I say, in the most offhand manner I can manage "oh, you know the usual."

Thankfully he didn't push further, his eyes already glued to the screen as the movie started. He squeezed into the couch beside me, after endless attempts to make sure I was comfortable.

It was a good film, I admit. Certainly more entertaining than the daily activities of a Polyergus in the Amazon .

My eyes started to feel heavy, while Percy watched in rapt attention as Marlin woke up on the back of a sea turtle. I let my head fall onto his shoulder and after a moment of stiffness he relaxes and slowly pulls me closer, leaning his chin on my head, our heart beats on the same wild rhythm.

So yes, she supposed. Percy Jackson was a contradiction to everything on her brilliant list of brilliant values. That was, what she thought, made him different. Made him perfect. Made him…him.

Besides she felt it was high time she made a new list because her old one had been proven faulty. _Finding Nemo_ was a fun movie, it made her laugh. Blue was now her favorite color, and now she couldn't imagine eating cookies that weren't tinted a shade of the ocean. So yes, Percy had taken notions that was a definite attribute of wrong on her long clever list and turned it into something that felt right.

Except the unwashed mugs part, she found out in the morning as she wandered into the kitchen and found the dirty cups from last night sitting by the sink. He had left early in the morning, after tucking her in with some extra blankets and the Tupperware of leftover cookies, still warm. And as she stood there, inhaling deeply the scent of chocolate that still lingered in the room, the ending _of Finding Nemo_ , which she had missed, gnawing on her mind and the dirty cups with traces of marshmallow standing cheerily in front of her, she did something that she felt she hadn't done in a long time. She smiled.

 **So, yeah! That's another chapter down. Though I still have no idea where to lead this story. It was intended as a one shot and now has sprawled into something with no definite plot. Any ideas?**

 **As always, reviews are whole heartedly welcome!**


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